Death of a Lioness 273 



follow its bank; then we again climb the slope. " It's 

 a lion ! " I murmur to my companion. The head of 

 the animal is about eight jyards away. . . . " Or a 

 leopard," 'suggests Kambombe. ^As a matter of fact, 

 the heads of these two animals, seen afar off and from 

 behind, resemble each other very much. The animal 

 bends down and raises itself. It seems to be absorbed 

 by something near it. Fearing to make a noise and 

 to disturb it by getting nearer, I decide to remain 

 where I am. So, aiming between the two round 

 ears, full at the neck, I fire. . . . 



Let us see what has happened, for the animal, 

 leopard or lion, has disappeared. Again skirting the 

 river, we draw near cautiously. . . . Kambombe, 

 climbing into a tree, discovers that the animal is a 

 lioness, and informs rne that she is stretched motion- 

 less on the ground, with shattered, bloody head. . . . 

 He also sees that she has cubs. . . . After taking a 

 few precautions to make sure that the lioness is really 

 dead, we show ourselves. Two cubs are by the 

 mother's side, and a third, which she crushed in her 

 fall, dies as we hurriedly remove it from underneath 

 the body. 



The lioness is of average size. The young are 

 four or five days old, and are as big as the two fists 

 put together. 



With a cub in each hand, Kambombe at once 

 makes off to the camp. I ask him to hurry and 

 return .as soon as possible with men and his comrades 

 armed, while I remain hidden behind a tree to watch 

 over the lioness's body in the hope of seeing the male 



18 



